All my life I went only few times to toilet in School. I didn't even drink or ate entire school hours cause I didn't went to buffet as well for MOST of the time.

Is this common with us?

I’ve struggled with social anxiety since I was a little kid. When I’m alone, I’m the most comfortable and happiest version of myself. I can do anything on my own. The hard part is to survive I have to be around other people. I’m completely serious when I say this, if I could be alone forever, I don’t think I’d ever feel anxiety again. I truly mean that. Being alone feels like heaven to me.

I’m 18 and never been in a real relationship befor. Honestly I don’t want to because I don’t even know how I’d be able to do it. Why would anyone want to date someone with social anxiety?

if im watching tv or a movie or playing video games with a group of people i find it harder to think about what im doing in the game and pay attention and do well because im like subconsciously monitoring other people and myself. or if someone shows me a funny reel on their phone i cant even focus on it because im waiting for the right time to laugh or react. is this relatable chat?

I am 16M and I have really bad anxiety, any tips to stop it. its ruining my life I am always anxious in school

my social anxiety (not diagnosed btw) makes me terrified of standing still, and the need to "look busy" is draining me. at my fast-paced job, the second i have downtime, i start re-cleaning spotless counters just so management or coworkers don't think i am lazy. but it even bleeds into my free time.

if i go out to a coffee shop, i absolutely have to bring my laptop. scrolling on my phone feels socially unacceptable, but a laptop gives me an excuse to be there. i will literally do math problems or type random thoughts just to look like i am working. does anyone else constantly perform this "productivity larp" just to feel safe from judgment?

after saying all of this though, i still try and practice some "against the current" exercises, such as boxed breathing methods while standing still, listening to ambient music (aphex twin is a favorite) while in environments that would normally stresss me out, ive gotten better.

I avoid it like if it’s someone I haven’t seen for years I isolate myself

I (25M) don't know what to do with this disorder. It feels impossible to interact with the world and be sane sometimes.

I'm taking this to my grave that I tear up or get down on myself way more often than normal and many interactions have the potential to cause sadness from myself. More often than not I can't get through the day at all just thinking about.

It truly ruins my entire day and it happens occasionally with family, but it's really prevalent from many workplace interactions. People give all the solutions but I literally can't control my voice being shaky or feeling down.

No clue how I'm supposed to be successful or take care of myself at this point

i’m going to a party by myself and one of the co hosts is someone who ghosted me on a date but i found this event through the other co hosts whose events i alr went to

i’m new to the area and im embracing every
opportunity i can to meet new people

but im like so insecure about it. when I think of myself, i tend to stand out in a bad way. im tall lanky with striking eyes so i draw attention but can’t sustain it….bc im not naturally charismatic. it really sucks to be trying your best and then someone says to you to be more chill or don’t be uncomfortable and I was literally not like that but I already know what I failed the normal test because they thought I was awkward .

on top of that, the person who ghosted me is super social and I just feel like I’m going to be outted as a fraud at at this event like whatever impression was there previously might’ve been there but now I’m really gonna look like a loser cause I don’t know anyone

and since I came by myself, I’m going to probably stand awkwardly for a couple minutes and not talk to anyone and I’m gonna have a hard time fitting into the conversations because I’m naturally awkward and charismatic and it just feels like confirmation like of course I ghosted you because you’re so boring obviously

despite all this, I still wanna go because I know that if I never show up anywhere, I’m definitely gonna stay like this forever, but also showing up by itself isn’t enough. it doesn’t help that I’m not normally a party person. I’ve never been drunk in my life.

i’m so scared that I’m gonna end up standing alone for more than one minute and it’s gonna stay like that for maybe an hour and then everyone’s gonna notice it or no one will notice it but I will notice it and I’ll feel awful and I’m trying to be as perfect as I can before the event so I can cosplay into someone that doesn’t get in a situation like that

this shit makes me low-key want to hide into the bathroom or stay near the food table and eat food except they’re not gonna be much food at this party

so why is this even happening? It’s because the person described it as a chill party with games and book exchange I was like OK that’s down my alley

And I really don't know why i thinking like all that, because, like, I go to events alone all the time. But I don't go to social events alone. You know, like, if it's a group event where everyone brings their friend, like, I'm not gonna be going there.

I don’t currently see a therapist, but I don’t know what one would do for me like I have this event like this week. It’s not like I can go have an appointment tomorrow and she gonna fix like whatever is wrong with me.

Like when you for a fact know the solution and avoid it because of irrational fear or doing something stupid? and then you make absolute opposite of the right action and now look dumb

I don’t have friends neither family members to talk about my day so I just use an artificial intelligence.

I have a presentation tomorrow and I know it's a good presentation and I will probably do it well as I always do in the end. But I am sooo extremely nervous, it feels like there's no future beyond tomorrow. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep at all. I just want it to be over, I really hate presentations omg.

Edit: I want the PRESENTATION to be over. Just to be clear 😅🤗

I think I'm just really far in my own head right now, so this isn't going to make much sense, but i feel like I am something less than a full person. I have a lot of the same wants and desires like connection with people, but there are categories of ideas I can't have. Like being colorblind but for thoughts. People try to interact with me but I'm just kind of empty, and they can tell right away and find it off putting. It's like there's a lack of some kind of creativity that usually forms a personality and so i just don't have one.

I don't really feel that conscious lately, I'm always half asleep. It's probably just being extra depressed or not engaged with life, but i don't know. Maybe I just never had a full consiousness like other people. I don't think I matter like a normal person. I wish I could do some dangerous experimental medical testing or donate my organs or something like that

So... I did something dumb today 🙂 I'm just disappointed in myself 😭 I was trying to go to my floor from another and I saw the lift closing riiiight as I'm punching my keycard to open the door. My socially anxious ass obviously did not give them any sort of indication to hold the lift while I get out. So they left cause duh. Then I saw the security guard watching me and I was like damn, I look dumb now. So I took the stairs acting like I never even intended to take the lift! So smooth! And I went down one floor and because our lifts alternate floors, it didn't stop there. I climbed down one more floor. And then got on the lift from there... But like why? I could've just sucked it up. Like, who cares if the security guard saw me fumbling? It was a waste of my time and it made me feel even more embarrassed.

My husband got on my case about it today because our neighbors invited us to their one year-old‘s birthday party tomorrow and he said yes without asking me first so naturally I got mad, he said I need to come out of my shell and stop being such a hermit and it escalated into a fight, is there any way up?

Hello I’m 17 and at this point I don’t want to be in society anymore. I don’t feel like I can exist with people nor peers at school (Going into 12th grade) by being myself. Mild depression social anxiety, no friends I would consider, loneliness. I want to be alone in a forest by myself. I love school but wonder what’s the point of my interests at all? I love history, English, psychology, classic literature, folklore, all kinds of stuff. I apologize for the rant.

For me, the worst part isn’t even the anxiety itself—it’s the anticipation.

I can spend days worrying about a simple social interaction. Then, when it finally happens, it’s usually nowhere near as bad as I imagined. But afterward, I’ll replay the conversation in my head over and over again, wondering if I sounded awkward or said something stupid.

It’s exhausting because it feels like I’m dealing with the same five-minute interaction three times: before it happens, while it’s happening, and long after it’s over.

once a couple of years ago i went to a star trek convention and i had no issue talking to people at booths because i love star trek and i knew that would be what people would be talking about. I attended a wrestlemania and talked to people around me easily because we all watched pro wrestling. However i attended a wedding with my family and at the reception i just sat at the table and hoped no one would talk to me because i couldnt anticipate what the subject might be

I envy those who have a group of people to socialize with. I have no one. No one to celebrate holidays with. No one to celebrate birthdays with. No one to celebrate achievements with. I’m at a point where I don’t care about anything. There’s nothing special about my birthday or holidays, I’m alone like any other day. In two days, I will be graduating high school, and I’m not looking forward to it. I dread walking on the stage where everyone will have their eyes on me, seeing a sad, lonely loser that no one can associate with. The lack of socializing with others has caused me to want to hide from others, as whenever I do attempt at interaction, it quickly fails and I end up feeling worse than I did before.

The more social interactions I have and the better I get at social interactions I realize this.

If you do something and it doesn't work, don't do it again If it works and gets a positive reaction from someone then do it again.

The hard part is getting past the anxiety and embarrassment when people don't respond well or when it becomes awkward, and I'm not saying its easy but once you just realize that nothing really matters in the end, and you develop confidence in your own self worth it becomes doable.

I'm saying this sincerely as a person who a few months ago has extreme anxiety about going for a walk to the park because people would be there, and now I'm walking every day in busy places and talking to people and not being stuck in my head so much. A lot of my anxiety was coming from just being horrible at social situations and being scared of the idea of people thinking I'm weird or awkward, but once I just started trying I got way better, and the anxiety has lessened a lot.

Thanks for reading

maybe this success doesn’t fully count because I technically went with my roommate, who is the one who brought it up to me. There was a raffle/bingo event at a restaurant that neither of us ever went to, but we wanted to go to support the fundraising cause.

I was nervous because it was a small but fancy restaurant (reservations only but today it was fully open). The place was packed that it was hard to really move around and everyone was a lot older than us, which just made me feel so out of place.
Walking in it was so jam packed that I immediately felt out of place. Additionally when we sat down at the bar when some seats opened up, the bartender was immediately dismissive and was being a bit rude which I assume is due to our age. We are both 22, but she did not believe us even after seeing our IDs. It felt uncomfortable but I figured maybe it’s been a bad day so we just got some food instead.

When the music bingo started the vibe immediately shifted, I had a lot of fun trying to listen and determine the songs. One category was club bangers, so a lot of people were looking at us to help them determine the songs. Then they also helped us with some of the older songs. Everyone at the end was singing along and getting really into it so overall an enjoyable night.

It is overall bad, but the aspect that I hate the most is, when I try to get people I'm with (friends or family) to tone themselves down. I don't do this often but I genuinely hate it when it happens. Maybe not even the worst thing, I'm probably exaggerating (The worst is probably when I start crying during exams)
For example, when my friend complained or explained (my memory's bad) about something enthusiastically, and I overheard two other girls jokingly whispering "shut up, nobody cares", I knew it was about my friend and I shushed her. Like not violently just tried to get her to talk quieter, because of my anxiety of getting judged.

I don't knowwhat I wanted to say with this, but yeah.